Andrew Wertz

"Of all the labels prescribed to different ways of working, I'm most comfortable with documentary photographer in that it acknowledges the very intense relationship, dependent relationship, with what surrounds us, what's going on outside, what's here. And that the camera becomes this bridge into seeing and engaging and investigating that reality."
-Andrew Wertz

Andrew Wertz is currently Visiting Assistant Professor of Fine Arts at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. His photography addresses the social landscape and built environment of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast United States with a particular attention to the Anthracite Coal Region of Pennsylvania. He uses photography to speak to the changing nature of place, identity, and the inescapable inevitability of loss, but also celebrates life, labor, and community.

His work includes the series Everywhere Under Your Feet, a long-term body of photographic work exploring Pennsylvania s anthracite coal region, where his parents and grandparents were raised. He describes it as a revisitation of past memory, personal mythology, and present day interrogation of place and meaning. Wertz received a BA in Studio Arts at Trinity College, Hartford, CT, and an MFA in Photography at Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI.

He currently resides in Andover, CT.

Tete-a-Tete: Conversations in Photography, Michener Art Museum, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, 2016
Everywhere Under Your Feet, Machines with Magnets, Pawtucket, RI, 2015
Six Degrees: 2015 RISD MFA Graduate Show, Clampart Gallery, New York, NY, 2015
RISD Graduate Thesis Exhibition, Rhode Island Convention Center, Providence, RI, 2015
Triennial Exhibition, RISD Photo, Woods-Gerry Gallery, Providence, RI, 2014
Traces, 7 Dunham Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, 2014
Inescapable Mode, Red Eye Gallery, Providence, RI, 2014
All The Dire Motives, RISD MFA Photo Biennial, Sol Koffler Gallery, Providence, RI, 2013
Ellarslie Open, Trenton City Museum, Trenton, NJ, 2010
Asbury Park, Senior Thesis, Broad St. Gallery, Hartford, CT, 2003
Student Work, Austin Arts Center, Hartford, CT, 2002

Major Awards
T.C. Colley Scholarship for Excellence in Photography, Rhode Island School of Design, 2014
President's Fellow, Trinity College, 2003
Friends of Art Award, Trinity College, 2002
Emerging Preservation Leader, National Trust for Historic Preservation, 2001

Teaching and Professional Appointments
Trinity College, Visiting Assistant Professor of Fine Arts, Photography, 2015-2016
Rhode Island School of Design, Instructor, Photography Department, 2015
Bucks County Technical High School, Instructor, Summer Program, 2005